ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The majority of growth indexes entered correction territory during the quarter, due to pressure from the chaotic tariff implementation, concerns about a weakening U.S. economy, and increased inflation. Against this backdrop, the strategy outperformed the benchmark, driven by diversified stock selection and an underweight exposure to the Magnificent Seven. The S&P 500 Index declined 4.27% in the quarter and the benchmark Russell 1000 Growth Index (RLG) fell 9.97%. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.
In its first quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy emphasized stocks such as Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC). Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) engages in the research, development, manufacturing, and distribution of eye care products. The one-month return of Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) was -6.92%, and its shares gained 0.36% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 7, 2025, Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) stock closed at $82.98 per share with a market capitalization of $41.043 billion.
ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:
“To help fund these additions, we exited our position in Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC), a medical device company focused on eye care products and solutions for surgical procedures and consumer use, and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), an operator of securities exchanges and provider of fixed income, data services and mortgage technology solutions. We purchased Alcon in 2020 after surgical disruptions due to COVID-19 created a unique buying opportunity. At the time, Alcon had major positive cycles in both of its core businesses as well as the opportunity to expand margins by investing in new manufacturing and leveraging its commercial investment. We sold down the position gradually as the stock approached what we viewed as fair value. Similarly, we sold ICE as the stock has re-rated higher due to expectations for positive change in housing fundamentals supporting its mortgage business.”
A doctor wearing scrubs using a centurion vision system to check a patient’s eye.
Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 40 hedge fund portfolios held Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 33 in the third quarter. In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024, Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) reported solid quarter with sales of $2.5 billion, up 6% year-over-year. While we acknowledge the potential of Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
We covered Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) in another article, where we shared the list of top stocks that are poised to disrupt their industries by 2030 with technology according to investment bank UBS. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.